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Several weeks ago Bayer AG’s Chief Executive Officer Marijn Dekkers said that he would consider a “merger of equals” to bolster the company’s sagging healthcare division. The division, a minor revenue source for Bayer AG, posted $25.1 billion in sales last year.

Today, the company announced that by 2013 it would outsource the entire production of its blockbuster MS treatment Betaferon to its German arch rival Boehringer Ingelheim. At present, Betaferon sold in the US is manufactured at Bayer’s production facility in Emeryville, CA. Bayer will close that facility and about 540 jobs will be lost.

Boehringer already manufactures Betaferon sold in Europe and it recently received US Food and Drug Administration approval to also sell it in the US. A Bayer spokesperson said that “It is important for us that we can offer the product from a single source.” While that makes sense from a regulatory standpoint, the decision also suggests that Bayer Healthcare may indeed be positioning itself for sale. It also suggests that Bayer may be abandoning the US market for “greener pastures” in the emerging BRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India and China).

For more insights into Bayer Healthcare check us this article in Life Science Leader.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

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Bloomberg news today reported that Bayer AG’s Chief Executive Officer Marijn Dekkers said that he would consider a “merger of equals” to bolster the company’s sagging healthcare division. The division, a minor revenue source for Bayer AG, posted $25.1 billion in sales last year.

While Dekkers did not name the companies that he considers to be Bayer’s “equals”, convention wisdom suggests the list is likely to include Eli Lilly & Co, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and Amgen, one of the last remaining, large, independent biotechnology companies. Lilly and BMS both  had  sales revenue similar to Bayer's last year whereas Amgen had lower sales of $15.1 billion. 

The reasons for a potential merger are not entirely clear. However, Bayer Healthcare is waiting to hear about regulatory approval of its new anticoagulant Xarelto medicine for irregular heartbeat patients who face the risk of a stroke. Analysts predict that Xarelto may exceed $2.5 billion in global sales. Approval of Xarelto will change Bayer’s valuation and consequently, don’t expect merger talks to begin until after FDA renders its decision on the drug.

Meanwhile, Bayer’s top-selling multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment betaseron faces competition from a similar Novartis drug called Extavia, and from its new oral MS medication Gilenya. Sales of betaseron fell 5 percent in the first quarter. Moreover, sales of Bayer’s birth-control pill Yaz dropped 18 percent after Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. introduced a generic version of the medicine.

Lilly, BMS and Amgen all face significant challenges in the future and both BMS and Amgen have been repeatedly mentioned as takeover targets. However, from a historical perspective mergers of mediocre or struggling companies rarely yield stronger, more financially robust ones! But, what do I know, I am just a scientist!

Stayed tuned for more updates.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

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The German drug maker Bayer today announced that it plans to eliminate 4,500 jobs by 2012. Of the 4,500 positions to be cut, roughly 1,700 will be eliminated in Germany. Interestingly, during the same period, Bayer plans on creating 2,500 new jobs in “emerging markets;” yet another sign that big pharma is betting on translating the explosive growth of these markets into large profits.

While pharma’s interest in emerging markets may be good for the workers who live in these regions, it has been disastrous for scientists and sales personnel in developed markets like the US and Europe. To date, almost 200,000 pharmaceutical and biotechnology employees have lost their jobs since 2007.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

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Last week, the market-analyst firm Manhattan Research released a list of the top branded pharma Web sites based on traffic generated from direct-to-consumer (DTC) television ads. The firm tracked about 250 different product sites and asked 6,575 consumers which websites they visited in the past 12 months. Consumers were asked to recall the reason they visited the site, whether they are taking the product, think they need the product, and the actions they took after they visited the site. The following list represents the top ten product websites that were more likely to have website traffic driven by DTC television ads. However, it is important to note that the rankings are not based on the volume of traffic but the percentage of traffic generated in response to integrated DTC advertising campaigns.  

1. NuvaRing—Merck (formerly Schering Plough formerly Organon)
2. Latisse—Allergan
3. Cialis—Lilly
4. Boniva—Roche
5. Abilify—Bristol Myers Squibb
6. Gardasil—Merck
7. Yaz— Bayer
8. Viagra—Pfizer
9. Levitra—Eli Lilly
10. Lunesta—Sepracor

Interestingly, of the top ten products on the list about 70% of them have to do with sex or woen's reproductive health. The exceptions include Abilify (depression and bipolar disease), Lunesta (insomnia) and Latisse (eyelash growth). Pfizer, Levitra and Cialis are treatments for ED, Gardasil is an anti-cervical cancer vaccine, Boniva is used to treat osteoporosis (post menopausal women) whereas Yaz and NuvaRing are both used for birth control.

I thought the results of the survey where interesting because many experts say the effectiveness of DTC television advertising may be waning with the growing use of online resources. While the results of this survey are not conclusive, it suggests that DTC television advertising won’t be going away anytime soon. And that the growing use of televisions as web portals may actually increase not diminish industry’s reliance on DTC television ads to sell its product and treatments—oy! 

Hat tip to George Koroneos at the PharmaExec.com blog.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Watching!!!!!!!!!

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I hate to be the bearer of bad news (don’t kill the messenger) but 2007 has been rife with corporate downsizing and job layoffs. According to a post at Fierce Biotech, jobs cuts were primarily driven by “Concerns about patent expirations, falling sales due to drug safety concerns, redundancy from acquisitions and a general need to streamline operations”. The companies that have “laid-off” the most workers are:  

1. Pfizer-10,000 
2. Astra Zeneca-7,600 
3. Bayer-6,100 
4. Johnson & Johnson
5. 5,000 Amgen-2,600

Companies that did not make the list but have quietly been laying off workers or freezing jobs include GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

It is not a good time to be looking for a job in the pharma or biotech industries. That said, there is always hope and let’s “hope” that 2008 is a better year for both industries.

Until next time….

Good Luck (you will need it) and Good Job Hunting!

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